


the gravity of tempered grace

by minimalloss



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, all of the mints are in this really but. those are the main ones mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:00:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimalloss/pseuds/minimalloss
Summary: There’s actually, really only one person Boyfriendcancall right now without feeling terrible about it. They press the button. The phone rings, and rings, and rings.The call connects.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	the gravity of tempered grace

**Author's Note:**

> goodbye, boyfriend monreal. we love you.
> 
> — title from iridescent by linkin park.

When Jaylen hits them with the pitch, it is almost a relief.

Not in the way that they want to die, because nobody here wants to die, and certainly not them. They have a team that they love very much, that they want to protect. But they’d rather it be them than anyone else, _because_ they love that team.

So when they hear the soulscreams from the stands, and the Mints rushing onto the field to make sure they’re okay, they play it off that they’re fine. They say that their head hurts a little bit, but they’ll be fine. They _are_ Boyfriend Monreal, after all, and if there’s one thing that the Mints are known for, it’s incredible bursts of good luck. They reassure them that they’ll all get through this just fine.

The fans are scared. Everyone is trying to keep a positive vibe, but they’re scared underneath it, and everyone can feel it. Winnie calls for a collective group hand-holding session that night before they go to sleep, and even though Winnie doesn’t say it, Boyfriend knows the implication is “because it may be the last time they get to.” 

Boyfriend and Lenny and Grey hold onto each other, and though Lenny’s trunk is as strong as ever, his leaves are trembling. Grey doesn’t say anything, as always, but Boyfriend can see the fear in his eyes. 

Grey’s already been hit before, so he knows the fear all too well. Dickie, Marq, and Stew have been hit, too, but not twice. They try to comfort the three of them as much as they can, but it basically all boils down to “I know how you feel” — a thoughtful gesture, but not exactly reassuring in this case.

All of them are hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

-

They lay in bed, unable to sleep, knowing, somehow, that it will be their last night. They scroll through their contact list, eyes watering as they scan every name they love so dearly, and they know they will miss so much. _Rodnet. Hewitt. Dickie. Marq._ All of them.

They just… they need to talk to someone. Just _one last time_ , while they can. They could call Oscar, for some good old father-figure wisdom, but he’s probably out like a log. Usually, they go to Izzie in times like this, but they know Izzie and Atlas are trying to spend as much time together as possible right now, and they don’t want to ruin that. They’re not going to call PDZ, since he has to pitch a game soon, and they don’t want to give him any more trouble. They could talk to Ren, maybe, but… no. The Mills just lost Dom, and Boyfriend can’t add onto that grief. 

There’s actually, really only one person they _can_ call right now without feeling terrible about it. They press the button. The phone rings, and rings, and rings. 

The call connects.

“Hello?” Leach says, her voice rough with sleep.

“Hey,” Boyfriend says softly, already feeling bad. “Sorry.”

“Boyfriend? What do you need?” she asks, gruff and cranky. “You know you have a game tomorrow, right?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Boyfriend says, and they can hear Leach let out a long sigh.

“You scared?” Leach asks — not patronizingly, not pitifully, not sympathetically. It’s just a flat, real question, in true Leach Ingram fashion.

“Yeah.” They pause. “I think it’s gonna be me.”

“It could be any of you. Why do you think it’s going to be you who goes?” 

Boyfriend swallows hard. They don’t like remembering this out loud, and especially not in front of Leach. “When I— when Eddie— when he was incinerated, it was meant for me. I was supposed to be marked for death, not them. You remember that, right?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Leach says, and Boyfriend can almost hear a tinge of sadness to her voice. “Do you think that it’s going to be you, or that it _has_ to be you? There’s a difference.”

“I think it has to be,” Boyfriend answers, without hesitation. “It’s my time. I can feel it. I’m okay with it.”

“I don’t want any of you to go. Not if I can help it.” Boyfriend isn’t sure what to say. They don’t hear genuine sentiment coming from Leach often. She’s been so reserved ever since Eddie died, she keeps to herself most of the time now. The only people she really talks to often are the other pitchers. So this is… this is new. “...but it’s not up to me.”

“It’s nobody’s fault except the gods’ and the umps’,” Boyfriend says. “And thank you, Leach. For everything.”

“You don’t have to,” Leach blurts out, and it sounds like the words are being yanked out of her against her will. “It’s not what Eddie would have wanted.”

“I know,” Boyfriend says, and their voice doesn’t come out as more than a whisper. “But it’s what I would have wanted.”

They hang up the phone. Leach doesn’t try to call them again, and they’re grateful.

-

They get through most of the game, and nothing happens. And Boyfriend thinks, maybe, that they were wrong. Maybe they weren’t destined for death, like they thought. Maybe Blaseball is a game of inches, and they’d just been standing a little too close to the plate, or Jaylen’s fingers had slipped, or something like that.

But Lenny is almost to the dugout, and Boyfriend can see the ump eyeing them up. 

Theoretically, they should be safe. They don’t have to walk up to the plate until Lenny gets back, and it takes a while for a tree to get _anywhere_ , and it could be Lenny, and they wouldn’t have to die. But that’s not even an option for them, and they’ve known that from the start.

Because Eddie saved them, three seasons ago, by jumping in front of them when they’d seen the umps looking in their direction. They were marked for this a long, long time ago. It’s always been them the umps wanted. And Lenny? Lenny’s the last little piece of Eddie this team has. They have to pay it forward, in their memory. 

Boyfriend walks up to the plate, passes Lenny on the way out, looks at the heart with _E + L_ inside it carved into his trunk. Lenny, who has no idea what was about to happen. Lenny, who is safe now.

They put on a brave face, swing the bat around a couple of times. They look at the ump head-on, with their many eyes. _If you’re going to kill me, you’re going to have to look at me while you do it,_ they think. And the ump seems to understand.

And then there is nothing. And then there is everything. And then the soulscreams erupt around them, tearing from a thousand throats in mourning. And then they can hear Whit Steakknife and Eduardo Ingram calling to them. And then they are home. And then, and then, and then.

-

There is a rumor that Pudge Nakatamo looks different to everyone. 

Their uniform always smells like laundry fresh out of the dryer, their voice carries the tune of your favorite song, and they take the form of whatever looks most like a friend to you. To some, they look like a fat, friendly cat, basking in sunlight. To others, they look like a childhood friend one is desperate to reconnect with. Stew Briggs, when pressed for a comment, admitted that sometimes, just _sometimes_ , Pudge looks to her like Whit Steakknife.

Lenny Spruce is planting saplings in the Boyfriend Monreal Memorial Butterfly Garden. They’re small for now, but soon, they will blossom into big, beautiful flowering bushes. He’s excited to see them — they remind him of the swarms of butterflies that always seemed to follow Boyfriend around when they walked through the meadow. 

Pudge crawls slowly around his trunk, a chubby caterpillar for now. In time, they may become a big, beautiful butterfly. In a way, it seems like Boyfriend is watching out for all of them from The Great Beyond. They may have lost their boyfriend, but they gained a friend to keep them all comfort. That’s what they _really_ needed.

Lenny smiles down at the caterpillar. It blinks back, slowly, and Lenny sees Boyfriend in its many eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> edit: since posting this fic, a lot of the mints have agreed upon the events i've written to be canon and added to the wiki for boyfriend, as well as the memorial garden. i just want to say that i'm incredibly honored that people feel this way about anything i've written; this was just meant to be a bit of closure for myself, but i'm glad i could provide you all with some of that closure too. <3


End file.
